


Cacophony

by Sawadoot



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, and listen, in which hibari needs to fucking stop for three seconds, this is why we cant have nice things, time to kick off spook season with more spook, witch!mukuro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-17 10:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8140079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sawadoot/pseuds/Sawadoot
Summary: Anyone could carve a questionable word into wood. He was not doubtful of his abilities, at least when the grand adventure had begun he wasn't. But in the slow churn of events, as the word was then carved into his flesh, moving on to brand his will. Doubt became more of a reality. (discontinued)





	1. Heed this Warning

“When you take something you are to give an equal gift in return. Otherwise your life helps to atone and fill up the remaining pieces.”

It’s bitter, the aftertaste,  although mixed with a sweet dilute the flavor is still terrible at the end. Forcing him to place his mug down on the warm surface of the inn’s oak table. Only they sit in the dimly lit room by the comfort of the dimming fire.

Impatience drags at the edge of his words. He is not here to learn of legends or made up tales that force children to behave at night lest they risk being gobbled up in the dead of night.

Hibari Kyoya is only here to learn of the way to obtain a worthy opponent. Following the lead of rumor.

He does not care for a bedtime story even if this boy has bet his entire life on it.

“Your point? Hurry it up.”

Tsunayoshi clicks his tongue, hand tracing the wooden designs of the table. “You’re terribly impatient, Hibari-san.” His eyes narrowing at the glare he gets for the comment.

“I do not care for childish folklore.” 

At this Tsuna laughs, damaging to his ears. It was taunting and he wished to beat the arrogant herbivore into the ground. If not for the remaining expression, which kept him slightly interested in the topic. Only by a thread.

“Then consider it a warning. Even you know witches and practitioners of dark arts exist, you should know more than anyone that there are corrupt ways in which people take things. So I suggest you listen well when I say this advice.”

Kyoya’s eyes narrowed but nevertheless he would humor it.

“If you travel up that mountain, and I hope to _god_ you are not so utterly foolish to do so anyhow. You will run into that entity. His hair is long and dirty, the color of the deep sea. His eye is redder than blood and then there’s the unmistakable wooden mask.”

He paused to see if the man was still listening and he was, barely.

“With the kanji of death heavily carved into it. He will then ask you if you have come to form a contract. You must then look to his right eye and say the words, _I have no such desires._ Failure to do exactly this and the only way to identify you when we next meet will be by your severed limbs.”

It was silent for a moment. A chill settling in the room despite the warmth of the fire which had suddenly blazed higher as if in response to his warning, Tsuna’s warning. That of a local who has seen those crawl back barely living only to die hours later due to various missing parts. 

Pride ran strong in Hibari. Whoever this supposed entity if even real sounded like a thrill. A momentary opponent while he searches for his real challenge. Tsuna feels himself being sized up along with the weight of his words.

“I doubt, Sawada, that a simple entity could scatter my limbs around so easily.”

This irked a laugh, once again grinding, ridiculing. “Fine. Go find out, find out what the witch of the North mountain is like. And then you can tell me whether it was a simple task or not. If we ever meet again.”

Kyoya wasted no time skillfully smacking the other across the cheek with such impact he toppled from his chair and onto the firm floor. “Don’t mock me, herbivore.”

Tsuna rose with a withering look. His cheek swelling as it formed red blotches.

“I will always, _always_ , mock fools such as you.”

Kyoya stood abruptly, with the intention of biting this boy until he cut his own tongue in two. He was stopped by a bullet in the far wall.

“I do believe it’s Tsuna’s bedtime, you see he has been up far too late many many nights and becomes a bit pissy when he lacks rest.” Reborn, the broker from earlier, stands in the entryway with his pistol raised. Of course the strong man would be protective of one so much weaker. Disgusting.

“Who’s pissy, Reborn. I’m trying to-”

“Once a strong willed individual has made up their mind, it is nearly impossible to persuade otherwise. You would know that well, Tsuna.”

Tsuna’s face contorts to one of hurt. “As much as I’d love to combat your unnecessary comment, _Reborn._ You’re right, it is past my bedtime so if you’ll excuse me. Make sure you lock the inn when your asses are done.”

Tsuna brushes past the man, headed for his villa no doubt.

“What a charming herbivore.” Kyoya bit out with disgust. Reborn rolled his eyes, putting his gun back where he’d hidden it on his body. 

“A word of advice. Don’t ever hit Tsunayoshi again if you don’t want a bullet to the skull.”

“Wao. A threat is it?”

Reborn ignored him. “And if you’re going up that mountain. Bring a damn warm coat, you’re gonna need it kid.”

He grinned. “ ‘cause I doubt that witch will be so kind as to offer you one.”


	2. A Medium of Sorts

“Visit Chrome, she’s a medium for the witch. Might as well sell coats on the side for the amount of fools that ask her information on the subject. If you bring her treats for her cats she’ll most likely give you at least decent information.”

So Reborn had said, but the house was certainly small. And on the edge of town where the grounds were swarming with felines of all diversities. Hibari made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat.

He wasn’t bothered by preparation, it was the amount of limited information and the fact some had to be withheld. None of the other folk knew much of the entity for the matter of fact.

But it was terrible by the way their faces blanched.

Confidently Kyoya knocked on the worn door, watching as it creaked open a bit. One violet eye peering through to stare at him hazily. “Who are you?”

The voice was quiet, almost afraid. Was this even the correct cottage?

“I’ve come for information, herbivore.” Straight to the point, dangling a package of treats for the many cats where she could see.

There was a pause. A small hand carefully pulling the door open, it lacked a pinkie but nothing was said on it. Instead he waited for her to slowly open the door.

She shakily took the package with her other hand, it had a full set of fingers. When the light hit her face it was revealed how very young she was, he had expected at the very least a woman in her mid-thirties, this child couldn’t possibly even be eighteen yet.

And yet as she gazed at him with one violet eye, the other covered by an eyepatch of an imprinted skull, she seemed to give off an air of secrets.

This might be worth something. “You may come in.” Says she. “Settle yourself over there, on the sofa.”

The ‘sofa’ was a single cushion stacked with piles upon piles of pillows, Kyoya stood as of it was too uncomfortable to settle there. The place smelt of must, he wrinkled his nose at the unsightly cobwebs in the corners.

She returned minutes later, three cats trailing her. Looking as if she’d never eaten a bite of food in all her life.

“So you would like to know,” She said, sitting down on a stray cushion. “About the witch, the one on the North mountain. What specifically do you desire to learn?”

“Anything worth knowing.” He replies, crossing his arms over his chest.

She blinks, then smiles. “Visitation comes with a cost you know. If you are to travel there, although it is hospitable at first, if you bear no gifts upon arrival your blood will spill the second you reach so far.”

“Wao. Without a contract first, wouldn’t the entity be desperate for such?”

Chrome frowns. “Our desperation is not the same as yours, he is by no means desperate for anything. It is those that are desperate for his power that form a contract. He humors them.”

Kyoya raises his brow at this. Herbivores were weak but to willingly seek out danger and form a pact with it at their own expense, was sickening.

“Desperation, greed, fear, many other combining factors contribute to actively seeking out a contract. Most don’t realize you need to offer an equal standing sacrifice of your own in order to succeed the contract. Souls are often offered, as are memories. Valuable things to the human soul.”

“And so, what did you offer?” Kyoya spoke, surprising her at such a question. No one often asked, they valued their lives too much.

“My right eye, my pinkie finger of the left hand and my body to be inhabited as a vessel.” There was no hesitation in her voice. “As a little girl it was all I had to give.”

“Was it an equal exchange?” It interests him a bit.

“Very much so. I get to keep my soul, and until the time of the contract ends, these replacement organs will continue to keep my body alive. Had the situation been different I would rather have died, but you see it wasn’t different. And that is the price of survival.”

She glances up at him in slight confusion.

“What is it you desire? Is it riches? Or perhaps recognition? For whatever reason I don’t believe it to be the wish to be loved.”

Kyoya eyes her as if she were joking, or perhaps she is earnestly attempting to irritate him. He answers anyhow.

“An equal opponent is all I desire, someone whom I can best with a higher difficulty level.”

She frowns. “To urge a fight as your reason isn’t a wise decision. You might never return, there are various ways there would be implemented torture on your very being. Becoming broken for a mere battle would be foolhardy.”

Kyoya scoffs. “I will never be broken, nor bend to the wills of anyone else.”

She suddenly smiles, teeth a bit yellowed. “That is a good thing. I’ll make you a deal, if you are able to find me the bones of a dead man, that have not already been buried in the name of Christ, and bring them here. I will give you the instructions you will need in order to find him.”

An odd request but nothing unordinary of a witch medium. As much as Kyoya detests being at the hands of another he craves a fight. A satisfactory one. And the task itself is not daunting.

“I agree.”

She seems satisfied with that answer, Kissing her palm she walks to the front of him and before a word can be said presses the palm against his cheek. It is cold.

“We have a deal then.”


	3. Instruction

Woven silk bore a very keen resemblance to what his turmoil opted to be. Greeted by the medium, who in turn had kept her hair down thankfully as contrast to what she’d called a ‘lotus blossom’ their last encounter. 

He holds the bag of bones a distance from himself and towards her, considering the stench they were recent. Christening hadn’t the chance to have begun and Chrome sniffs them before humming in approval.

“Come in.”

She grips the sack rather well considering her pinky was nothing but a stub. They were placed on the vast table littered with candles burnt nearly to stubs, black matches from whence had been used, the bones of small animals and what looked as to be locally grown herbs and assorted garden produce. 

Some had gone bad by the smell of it, Kyoya wrinkles his nose in disgust.

Chrome seems to pay no mind as she occupies herself with the dish on the counter, the one she has begun to salt, adding a pinch of chopped parsley. It smelled odd, Kyoya was having a hard time identifying the slices of meat on her plate.

He might regret travelling all the way to Böhmen, especially in such tedious forms of transportation. If not for the rumors of a worthy adversary. He craved an equal battle, it was a desire that never curbed itself and grew stronger each passing moment he spent in this small village tucked at the bottom of the mountain.

The plate clatters to the table, Chrome sits down before it. She gestures to the seat across from herself, inviting him to sit at the cluttered table as well.

He sat upon the invitation, although he might have anyhow.

Watching with almost disgust as she picks up a chunk of meat and rips into it, as if she hasn’t eaten in many days. That could be true considering how thin she is. A few smacking sounds and tearing later, she wipes her face with a napkin to prevent the juices from dripping onto her dress.

With a scrape the plate slides forwards, towards him. He merely stares at it.

“Please have some, sir. While I fetch my book.”

Chrome is gone, down the narrow hall without waiting for a response.

Curious Kyoya is. Holding a piece between his thumb and index finger, he tears off a bite sized piece and chews it.

It tastes of burnt pork. It’s quite tender too. It lacks the ability to be appetizing. He frowns, pushing the plate farthest from himself and wiping his fingers on the cloth he keeps in his coat pocket, for sanitary reasons such as these.

Enter Chrome, large, worn book in one hand. 

His eyes narrow at the unkempt book. Is it full of curses or perhaps blessings?

She places it on the table, flipping through the thick pages. His eyes catch red. Are the pages…. bloodstained? No matter, blood won’t shake him. If anything it was curiosity that took the reigns. How many died over the book?

One bright, violet eye scans the pages her finger has stopped upon. It lights up.

“Here we are, the rules of the contract.”

He bristles. “I will _not_ be forming a contract with the witch.”

Chrome halts, perturbed, confusion settling on her face. “Why ever not? You want to fight Mukuro-sama, do you not?”

 _Mukuro?_ The name tastes bitter and he wonders why so. He never met anyone with such a name, anyone worth remembering that was.

“Yes, I desire to fight. Is that not an action that forms no bonds?”

She glances at him, apprehensive. “If you lose, you either must form a contract to prolong the inevitable or surrender your life. Meaning, Mukuro-sama is a witch who has the ability to take souls upon certain terms.”

Kyoya snorts. “Then I simply won’t lose.”

She shakes her head as if an exasperated mother, he resists the urge to smack her. 

“There is a caravan that departs at dawn, travelers who must pass through the mountain in order to cross to the next town over. They could take you a certain distance. Travel among the tallest pines until you reach a blood marked path, the rest is easy to discern. Bring the heart of a lamb.”

She stands, closing the book with a snap. Kyoya stands, nodding at the instructions.

“Good luck, on your quest that is.” Those are more than likely words signaling the end of the visit and he is grateful to leave. The herbivore is unsightly in an unnerving sort of way, that is, if he were capable of losing nerve.

“Hn.”


End file.
